The difficult characterization of the “investments” necessary for the benefit of the legal protection afforded to database producers

In a recent ruling, the French Cour de cassation held that in the absence of proof of the substantial nature of the investment required for the establishment of a database on its flights, schedules, availability and fares, an airline company is not in a position to invoke the legal protection afforded to database producers against the publisher of a flight search engine or to prohibit, on the basis of trademark law, the use of its word and semi-figurative trademarks (See Thibault Lancrenon’s comment in Recueil Dalloz 2015, No. 15).